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ACETA´BULUM

ACETA´BULUM,

Greek

（ὀξίς, ὀξύβαφον, ὀξυβάφιον,
ἐμβάφιον). A small shallow vessel, used originally, as the
name denotes, for holding vinegar or sauces, to dip the food into (Poll.
6.85; Ath. 11.494 b; Suidas, s. v. ὀξὶς and ὀξύβαφον). It was afterwards employed for a variety of
other purposes, e. g. for holding salad (Ath.
2.64 a), wine (Ath. 11.494 c-f), or
honey (Alex. Com. Frag. 3, 462), or for playing one form
of the game of cottabos (Ath. 15.667 e;
Poll. 10.86). [COTTABOS]

2. Roman

Originally a vessel for holding vinegar (acetum,
Isidor. 20.4, 12); then any similar vessel (Quintil. Inst.
Or. 8.6.35). It was sometimes made of silver (Dig. 34, 2, 19.9). The word is used of the socket of the hip-bone (Plin. Nat. 28.179); the suckers in the
arms of polypi (id. 9.86); and the cup of a flower (id. 18.245), from
which we get the general idea of a small vessel of bell shape with a
wide mouth. The first cut represents an acetabulum, given in Dennis's
Etruria, vol. i. p. cxii. ; the second,
from Cassini's Pitture antiche,

Acetabulum.

[p. 1.8]Rome, 1783 (ap. Daremberg and Saglio, s. v.),
shows two such vessels, probably containing condiments, placed on either
side of a sucking pig

Dish showing two small Acetabula.

that has been served up in a lanx. Similar vessels were used
by conjurers in their tricks (Sen. Ep. 45, 7, with
Lipsius's note); and the name was also applied to a kind of cymbal
(Isid. 3.21, 11).